In early July, Microsoft laid off thousands of employees, and now Xbox is hiring again – apparently using AI in a job posting that is drawing heavy criticism.
Which job posting is it about? Mike Matsel, Principal Development Lead at Xbox Graphics, posted a job listing on LinkedIn. They are looking for people with experience in device drivers, GPU performance, or similar fields.
The job posting follows a major layoff wave of thousands of employees at Xbox, already the second one in 2025.
ZeniMax Online, the studio behind The Elder Scrolls Online, also belongs to Microsoft:
What’s wrong with the job posting? The job posting is accompanied by an image that apparently was created by AI and was not checked before being uploaded. Otherwise, the numerous mistakes in it would have been noticed by someone.
Dylan Hallegraeff summarized these mistakes in an image (you can see it here on LinkedIn).
- The most noticeable issue is that the display is on the wrong side. It is actually facing backward.
- Furthermore, he criticizes the shadows, which are often either poorly placed or simply missing.
He comments: “Maybe next time you should hire a real artist for your creative company.” Many other users are also outraged by the poor AI image, especially in light of the recent layoff wave at the company.
“Maybe you should first ask one of the 9,000 people who were just fired?”
On July 2, 2025, it was announced that Microsoft is laying off over 9,000 employees. Many of them worked in the gaming sector, specifically under Xbox. This led to the cancellation of a new game from the creators of Elder Scrolls Online. Project Blackbird looked extremely promising, though.
- “Maybe you should first ask one of the 9,000 people who were just fired? But why are you even using this AI junk for an ad – has Microsoft become so lazy?” writes LinkedIn user Stephen Guinness
- “Do you at least want to earn back a bit of goodwill? Then why not ask some of these 9,000 if they would be suitable for the job,” writes Brett Thompson. He adds: “Even AI-generated content needs to be checked and revised. Best example: the image in this post.”
This is not the first time that AI has caused negative attention in connection with this layoff wave. Previously, an Xbox executive offered the laid-off employees to seek help from Microsoft’s own AI. Read more about it in this article: Microsoft lays off 9,000 employees – an Xbox executive suggests to the laid-off: AI can help through tough times.
